Guo Cheng with Heather Leslie

Erases man from time, and perhaps only for the better? The collected traces are left behind for a next civilisation—human or alien—as a puzzle of what might have happened to us.

photo by Hanneke Wetzer

photo by Hanneke Wetzer

photo by Hanneke Wetzer

photo by Hanneke Wetzer

A Felicitous Neo-Past

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A Felicitous Neo-Past is an intervention in the layer of the latest geological epoch. Guo Cheng removed all traces of human existence from a block of soil taken from the ADM dock yard in Amsterdam, to show it in a pristine state. He erases man from time, and perhaps only for the better? The collected traces are left behind for a next civilisation—human or alien—as a puzzle of what might have happened to us.
To create the small piece of land free of human traces, Guo Cheng chose one square meter of ‘artificial land’ at the dock yard which was reclaimed during the decade after World War II. He excavated the square meter, and then sorted, washed and rinsed the soil to erase all human traces. These traces mainly exist of synthetic polymer and other chemicals and rubble for the surface hardening. After the intervention, the hole was refilled with the clean soil, and has become a permanent man-made spot free of humane traces in the middle of the artificial land.